Shortly after the 2018 CMA Awards on November 14th, well-respected journalist Jon Caramanica of The New York Timesconducted a podcast focused on the awards with fellow writers Nick Murray and Natalie Weiner. Nick Murray is a freelance country music journalist, and Natalie Weiner is a sports writer for The Bleacher Report who also covers country music upon occasion. Weiner has been mentioned on Saving Country Music before when in the context of Kacey Musgraves’ new album Golden Hour, she called the music of Chris Stapleton “rootsy traditionalism.”

During The New York Times “Popcast” episode, the subject of Saving Country Music came up, and in the context of Chris Stapleton and the CMA Awards.

“I feel like I sometimes sound unkind about Chris Stapleton on podcast,” Caramanica said. “But I quite like Chris Stapleton. What I dislike is the virtue signaling of CMA voters to sort of be like, ‘We are supporting ‘real’ quote unquote, true roots-oriented singer songwriter country music,’ especially two or three years ago when that stuff was not getting played on the radio. You hear Chris Stapleton on the radio now.”

This elicited Natalie Weiner to say, “Jon, are you suggesting that Chris Stapleton saved country music?”

“Let me check a website,” Jon Caramanica responds, as laughter fills the mics. “I hear there’s a website devoted to just that question. If you know what I’m talking about, you know what I’m talking about.”

But if you had checked that website, you would find that Saving Country Music’s opinion pretty much mirrors the opinion of Jon Caramanica when it comes to Chris Stapleton, and especially at the CMA Awards.

During Saving Country Music’s CMA Awards LIVE blog, after Chris Stapleton won his second out of three awards for Single of the Year, this was the comment left at the 7:47 mark:

“Ya’ll know I love Chris Stapleton. But giving Chris Stapleton both ‘Single of the Year’ and ‘Song of the Year’ feels like such a default by the voting community. Good song, but doesn’t deserve a ton of hardware. So many impactful songs out there.”

As Jon Caramanica explained, it’s nothing against Chris Stapleton. He’s better than most, and a better selection than some of the other nominees who could have won. I’m not sure it’s “virtue signaling” to pick Chris Stapleton necessarily. I think his luck at award shows has to do with the universal appreciation he receives throughout the country music industry, not just because he’s an artist of substance, but because he made many allegiances and friendships as a songwriter early in his career. People see his name on a ballot, and they can’t help but vote for him, regardless of the competition or context.

But the sameness and predictability of Chris Stapleton has worn thin, whether it’s his music or his chances at award shows. There was almost as much universal “meh” reaction to Stapleton’s wins as there was universal shock at Keith Urban being named Entertainer of the Year. If Stapleton was still turning the mainstream upside down like he was in 2015 and 2016, maybe this wouldn’t be the case. Traveller shook the country music world. But the From A Room Vol. 1 & 2 efforts felt too easy—9 songs, many of which had been heard by the world before, like addendums to Traveller as opposed to albums of growth.

It continues to be remarkable how some in the outside media consider Chris Stapleton as “traditionalism.” Sturgill Simpson and Jason Isbell are stamped with that label as well, simply because they’re non radio stars who’ve found mainstream-level success. Though this has been respectfully debunked to members of the media, some just seem to hold fast to that opinion and refuse to be swayed, even though Chris Stapleton, Sturgill Simpson, and Jason Isbell themselves have weighed in, and verified that they don’t consider themselves traditional country either. It’s a rather shallow observance of a complex genre. Making SavingCountryMusic.com synonymous with traditionalism is just as shallow.

Country music is just big enough to gain attention from big, national media outlets, but often these outlets refuse to devote resources to dedicated journalists who understand the history, breadth, or nuance of the genre. This results in misnomers being printed in major periodicals which can be disrespectful to the artists and the music, beyond the opinions shared about a specific songs or someone’s awards show performance. This is one of the reasons NPR opened up a Nashville office (though country is much bigger than just the Nashville scene), and why NPR is one of the few national outlets that does a reasonable job covering country, roots, and Americana, while understanding the important differences between them all.

Has Chris Stapleton helped save country music? Yes, I would say he probably has. But a band like Midland is probably more “traditionalist” than Chris Stapleton at this point. Chris Stapleton is a songwriter, and he is country. But it was his soulful voice that hit right at the time when R&B was becoming all the rage in country that made him the right artist at the right moment, to the point where he’s still riding the momentum that first was set off at the 2015 CMA Awards.

There’s a good chance that next year Chris Stapleton doesn’t win anything at the CMAs. At the pace he’s going, it may be years before he writes a new song. Stapleton has talked about his difficulty composing new material himself. Things are good right now, and the fire to write new songs isn’t as easy to find as it was when nobody knew his name outside of Music Row and little blogs like Saving Country Music.

What Chris Stapleton will mean to country music in the grand scheme will be determined in the years to come, not just as history comes to a broad-minded conclusion upon his contributions, but what his next move will be. As Jon Caramanica of The New York Times said, it’s almost like the country music community is voting for the man instead of the music. It’s now up to Chris Stapleton to prove that he deserved all of those awards, and may deserve more in the future. Because country music won’t be saved at some magical moment you can then circle on a calendar. It is a ever-present effort that has always been necessary, and always will be. And those who understand this are those who truly understand country music.

83 Comments

John R Baker
November 27, 2018 @
10:40 am

Though I also like Stapleton the notion that he’s a real departure from the scene is rather at odds with the number of hits he’s written for the big names. A lot of that stuff is full of the same lame bro cliches and drivel. He’s just got real stuff as well.

Chris Stapleton is good. He’s on all of my playlists in varying quantities.

But, instead of taking time to discover MORE quality music, the NEXT radio-friendly-but-also-traditional artist, the NEXT Chris Stapleton, people just keep continuing to recycle his name when it comes to “real country”. He’s great! To those people, I am still glad that they listen to him and give him th awards, if that’s over Keith Urban, Kane Brown, etc. But come on people! Put in a little bit more effort and find MORE good music! There’s plenty out there!

Yes. Stapleton is the lazy, token traditional pick. Plus, he comes from deep within the songwriting establishment and all of these people know him. If Shane McAnally released a new album, he’d be plastered all over the awards shows.

Before Stapleton there were breakout traditionalists such as Randy Travis, George Strait, Dwight Yoakam and Alan Jackson. They arrived on the scene around the same time when the last traditionalist revival took place. And lest not forget that Reba was a solid traditionalist female voice when she was starting out, as was LeeAnn Womack. Both of them sort of “sold out” to the more bland sound which has dominated radio airplay for the past two to three decades.

The sales and streaming numbers for artists like Cody Jinks, the Turnpike Troubadours, and Tyler Childers are incredible, and rival or surpass some of the numbers even for some mainstream country artists with radio play. If you’re looking for names to make synonymous with “real” country in 2018, these would be it. These are not obscure artists, unless you only know country music from the outside looking in. These are major touring names with huge followings. Just as much as the CMA Awards use Chris Stapleton as a default, the media tends to use Chris Stapleton as a default when they want to define “real” or “traditional” country, and it’s a reduction of what Stapleton does, and the reality of things when you take a broader picture of what’s happening in country music. Independent and traditional artists continue to gain in market share. The mainstream, awards shows, and country radio no longer solely define what country music is.

It’s a shame that whenever I hear scm.com mentioned, it’s always in a broad-brushed, patronizing sort of way. I think that for these folks, scm.com is used (wrongly and lazily, obviously) to conjure the idea of a certain type of country fan, rather than being something that is actually engaged with. The dismissive, “oh yeah, the fuddy-duddies of scm haha haha” is not only disrespectful, but also indicative of bad journalism on their part. Not to mention the frequent mis-construals of your positions.
I for one really appreciate what you do. I read these other publications to stay abreast of the happenings, and sometimes they have good things to say. But scm.com’s engagement with country music is second to no one. Rather than being the backward, “weird corner of the internet” it is sometimes made out to be, scm.com puts the larger outlets to shame re: country music. Thank you for your thoughtful insights and nuance.

I like the name. It grabs one’s attention, and that matters a lot when you’re writing on your own, no team, and don’t have the benefit of a marketing budget. And when I tell people about SCM, they are intrigued by the name and are more likely to remember it.

If Stapleton can’t deliver an album of new material at the moment, I’d welcome a cover album from him. I’d enjoy hearing his take on some classic tracks, besides the couple he’s already done and perhaps some that force him to stretch beyond his comfort zone a bit. It would beat hearing Broken Halos on heavy rotation, which is definitely better than being subjected to the latest from Kane Brown or Kelsie Ballerinnie, but it’s not his best by far.

Same thing I’ve been saying about Jamey Johnson. Give me a covers album.
I loved hearing him do a couple of Randy Travis songs with Cody Jinks a while ago.
If he doesn’t, can’t, won’t write new stuff…fine. just give us some fresh material!

Jamey Johnson went that route as well. Just check on YouTube there are a number of videos of him doing his take on many of the old country classics. But I don’t believe he has had any chart success following his classic “In Color”.

Jamey Johnson went that route as well. Over YouTube you will find many posts of him doing his take on many of the old classics. However he hasn’t had any real chart successes following his classic “In Color”.

“If you know what I’m talking about, you know what I’m talking about.”
How do you take that Trigger?

IMO Chris Stapleton is good but he’s now becoming overrated because of the weakness of the rest of the mainstream. He’s the antithesis of where it’s been going with electronic beats, auto tune, etc. Can’t really blame the guy for doing his thing and getting recognized.

Also, this is not unique to country music. The truly best artists usually don’t win the awards in most genres. Does the Grammy usually go to the best album of the year?

Look, if I couldn’t take criticism or snark, I’d be a pretty big hypocrite.

Generally speaking, I’m glad my efforts were recognized in a discussion on a podcast posted on ‘The New York Times.’ I just wish they were a little more informed. If they wanted to know my opinion about Chris Stapleton and the CMA Awards, I shared them and they could have included that as opposed to reducing it to a punch line. I showed a similar concern for Stapleton’s wins as Jon Caramanica did, who I have a tremendous amount of respect for.

The context of the comments about Saving Country Music on the ‘New York Times” podcast were: 1) Chris Stapleton is a traditional country artist. 2) SavingCountryMusic.com loves traditional country artists and gives them favorable coverage. 3) SavingCountryMusic.com must think that country music has been saved with Chris Stapleton winning 3 CMA Awards.

That is so awesome! Marty and the boys put on a helluva show. When I saw they were coming to Atlanta (I couldn’t go) I said, wrong act is headlining. I was being facetious of course, I understand how these things work, but that band is, as the saying goes on this site, criminally underrated.

“Traditional” isn’t boring, and it isn’t a pejorative. Tradition means that something is real, and that it’s alive. Long after pop confections like Kane Brown go the way of Timbuk 3 and Kajagoogoo, traditional music will still be kicking.

Country music by definition is traditional. If it’s not traditional, then it’s not country. Because the whole point of country music from the very beginning has been to pay forward the traditions of the past. How we pay those traditions forward can change and evolve, as can the traditions themselves as time moves on. But if you’re not paying homage to the past in some capacity, you’re not country. That is why the Hall of Fame rotunda is etched with the saying, “Will The Circle Be Unbroken.”

Which begs the question “What is country music being saved from?” and I think the answer is “rootlessness.” Unfortunately, some journalists and listeners think the lower branches are the roots just because they’re below other branches. And many folks aren’t even aware of the lowest branches, just what’s beneath the very top (i.e. what they grew up with).

The roots of country music aren’t a set of stylistic flourishes, like a steel guitar or twangy voice–Kane Brown would be country in that case. The roots are something you feel but don’t see. They’re not easy to define; unfortunately modern journalism and mass marketing are based on what’s easy to define, for an audience too lazy to use a dictionary. A site like SCM takes up the challenge of describing what’s at the heart of country music without getting stuck in the past. The roots need the branches (what you call paying it forward) in order to survive just as much as the branches need the roots.

This is how I, a fan of classic 1960s/1970s rock, have always felt, that country music CAN evolve while maintaining ALL of the traditions it began with. I would also say, however, that it isn’t only the media that fails to get this point (nobody seems to do much in the way of research or reading on the subject these days). Those in control of the purse strings on Music Row seem to be willfully out of touch as well.

Trigger, I can’t help but notice the folks who comment on the SCM Facebook posts and the folks who comment here seem to live in very different musical worlds, with very different ideas of what it means to save country music.

It’s also different on Twitter where much of the media dwells. There, I am the biggest threat to women in country music, a racist bigoted Nazi right wing extremist who wants to exclude all women and minorities from country and only have country music sound like Hank Williams until Kingdom Come.

Meanwhile in these comments sections I’m a left-wing social justice warrior who can’t let the “women in music” thing go, and hates America for giving artists like Jason Isbell and Sturgill Simpson a pass for their politics.

As in most parts of life these days, if you don’t choose a side, you run the risk of being misunderstood and vilified by both.

Also, the difference between here and Facebook is most commenters actually read the articles, while on Facebook most people are just reacting to the image and title.

Those morons weren’t right-wing. You could say they were traditionalists or nationalists, but anyone who wants a larger government is left-wing.
They weren’t Stalin or Lenin; they were Hitler, who was more like Mussolini, if we need a comparison.

In America, there are left-wing Conservatives, and right-wing Conservatives. There are left-wing Liberals, and right-wing Liberals.

It’s the “choose a side” thing that bothers me most. I just want to hear a good song or read a well-written article. To me, a contrasting point of view is a good thing. As long as it isn’t blatantly nasty, I’m happy to hear it if it’s in G-C-D.

Unfortunately, this is the kind of thing I run into more often than not anymore when conversing with people who say they like country music. Just last week I had somebody mention Johnny Cash and Brantley Gilbert (???) in the same sentence, with a straight face.
Had to connect with my spirit animal to keep from losing it.

Yeah I’ve yet to find another website that has the kind of nuanced country music/industry discussions that this website has.

Most of the other country review/news websites play it safe and are so stripped of personality that that it feels pointless to read. And then the actual country music opinion pieces I find seem to mostly come from New York/LA based writers who don’t know what they’re talking about.

I disagree with a lot of Trig’s hot takes and honestly don’t care that much about “saving” country music but it’s disappointing to see this website reduced to the “Old man screams at cloud” kind of thing. It only takes a few minutes of poking around a few articles to see that it’s much more than that.

When you have journalists covering country music who are also tasked to cover ALL music, or all entertainment, or whose primary beat is sports or hip-hop or movies, everything is going to be reduced to a stereotype and that coverage is going to be littered with misnomers because they haven’t put in the time to really delve deep into subjects before commenting on them. I’m glad “The New York Times” puts the effort out to cover country music, but get some experts there who know the music more than the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart. It would have taken a matter of minutes to find out my opinions on the Chris Stapleton wins at the 2018 CMAs. It’s become fashion in the Twitterverse to shit on Saving Country Music and oversimplify my opinions, partly because I’ve held journalists accountable for spreading misnomers.

There is so much bad mainstream country music right now, I just don’t know how anyone can look at the radio scene and decide what song releases the least amount of stench. It seems like it’s been years and years that radio has played only solo men singing about teenage highs and lows which take place in a truck parked in a field. It’s all the same. And if I’m a longtime fan of country music and I’m voting for the CMAs or ACMs or whatever else, I’m just not going to listen to it all. I’m just not. I’m going to just pick the incumbent, so I can still go to the ceremony or keep my voting rights until country radio rebounds. There’s a reason that the same people win over and over and I think it’s because true country fans aren’t listening to the radio for logical reasons.

They look at the ballot, see Chris Stapleton and vote for him again. They see Keith Urban and think “It’s his turn.”

Country Radio is way beyond broken and mainstream country isn’t bad. It’s worse than bad. It’s bland and boring.

Last year, a three-year-old Chris Stapleton song was nominated for song of the year, so anyone who believes Stapleton will stop winning awards because he’s stopped putting out music, you’re wrong.

I am a fan of Chris Stapleton, but I have the same problem in a way with him winning all of the time. There are all of these people in Nashville who have the ability to support true country music at any time. The industry could shift tends immediately, but they are only worried about milking the money cow for more and more, so they allow R&B music to pass off as country. Then every year they are voting for Chris Stapleton to show us how much they are real traditionalists. It is almost like that bone they keep throwing out to real country music fans, trying to make us think country has not lost its way. They are actually a bunch of frauds.

That’s really interesting. Especially the country call out. Unlike Rick though, I don’t think the blame lies solely with the A&R people. I think consumers share at least SOME of the blame.
Interesting that the Beattles and even Max Martin barely used them…

For sure if the public stopped being duped by it but your average music fan doesn’t know the difference, it’s just data that shows what people buy, what demographic that falls for this lame shit and they ramp it up. It’s just about money not art.

Of course, always has been for the mainstream industry…. though some art does survive even in that environment. I’m not saying there isn’t a formula but a lot of people (including this video) like to solely place the blame on “the man” or in this case A&R. If it were ONLY up to A&R ppl or radio programmers, you wouldn’t be able to explain the sudden and unexpected hits that nobody predicted, or the changing tastes that nobody predicted, or the emergence of SoundCloud rap, etc etc. Yes there’s a small group of people that can shape taste to SOME degree, but saying some of the blame / responsibility doesn’t also rest with the consumer is short sighted. Anyway, it an interesting video. Thanks for sharing.

I couldn’t agree more about the novelty of Chris Stapleton winning every award is starting to wear thin. I think he is an amazing vocalist, has had some good, if not great songs, but three years in a row winning Male Vocalist of the Year seems anti-climatic. When he also won Single and Song of the Year, it again felt like a “been there, done that” moment. The most disappointing moment of the CMAs is that Chris Janson was not given a solo performance slot to sing “Drunk Girl.” It was disappointing that he did not win Song of the Year , but it was even more of a head-scratcher that if the CMAs did not allow him to have what could have been a career-making performance.

I went to see Chris Stapleton at Rupp Arena back in October. He had Marty Stuart opening for him and it was awesome. Marty definitely still has it. It was a great show and honestly I enjoyed what Marty Stuart and the fabulous superlatives did as much as Stapleton.

I was at the same show. Brent Cobb and Marty lit the place up, simply incredible. Although I was happy to see Chris do a “full band” approach unlike the past times I have seen him, I wasn’t impressed. And off the stage there were big muscle dummies fighting everywhere.

I think we’re just at the point where we are so many decades removed from actual “traditionalism” that anything sounding remotely like mid-2000’s Chesney is revered as an instant classic. It’s a shame. I agree that change can’t happen overnight. But it seems right now that nobody in Nashville is willing to take that first baby step. Perhaps the future epicenter of country music lies elsewhere.

Lee Ann Womack says something like this on the title track from “The Lonely the Lonesome and the Gone”:
“Nobody writes goodbye notes
And takes off to God-only-knows
On trains any more…..
He [Hank Williams] never sang
About a Camry pulling out of a crowded parking lot.
But I guess that in some way every heartache
Is like an old Hank Williams song:
There’s the lonely, the lonesome, and the gone.”

The methods of transportation change, but the pain is still the same.

I’m preaching to the choir to tell you this, Fuzzy–you know the material better than I do–but even though the style of country music (method of transportation) changes, there’s still something eternal about good country music (represented here by Hank Williams).

We can find something relevant in old songs about trains, if we take the trouble to listen to them, to understand why they’re talking about trains (and since trains mean something different in different songs, then understanding traditional country music takes some effort and some patience). But the work is always rewarded.

There are some traditional country musicians who were way ahead of their time. I recently mentioned the Carolina Chocolate Drops’ cover of J. E. Mainer’s “Run Mountain.” But the other side of Mainer’s 78 (the 1949 version, not the later Rural Rhythms take), “Shoot the Turkey Buzzard” is so uncontrolled that it rivals the wildest of The Velvet Underground or Sonic Youth.

And there are some artists that we still haven’t caught up with yet–to my mind, nobody’s come close to duplicating–let alone improving on–Steve Young.

So if “modern” country music ever completely loses its soul (but I don’t think there’s much danger of that, thanks to advocates like the founder and followers of SCM), well I’ve got lots of Rose Maddox to catch up on.

Hey Trig, you should check out Morgan Wallen’s cover of Jason Isbell’s “Cover me up” on Taste of Country. The dude did a damn good job. Wasn’t expecting that performance and that song especially out of him

Let me preface by saying I like a lot of Chris’s music and I find him to be be unproblematic. I do wonder though how much mainstream interest in him was influenced by the make over he and Morgane got right before things kicked off. Also how people’s perception of him as traditional country comes from said make over, the goofy hat, duster coat, turquoise jewelry.

Chris Stapleton has made it to the Top. Traveller is an epic album that will stand the test of time. The two follow ups were both good, just not great. They made him a lot of money and kept him on tour selling out arenas and picking up awards. Now comes the hard part. Making another great album. I’m betting he can do it. Time will tell. Its probably going to take a “minute”.

You are right the two follow ups are not great but keep winning awards. It’s ridiculous but it won’t end. Pop country is here to stay and will keep being played on country radio and crappy ones will still be number ones. The Pistol Annie’s new album is so good and done really great songs vocally and lyrically but yet country radio will not play them or add songs to their rotation. It has become quite sad and I’m appealing to listen to any country station. I know Bobby Bones does all female on the weekends but why not do it on your weekday show. His show is terrible as well
He plays the same people and songs every single morning and lord all he talks about is Garth Brooks. Give it a rest…
I don’t dislike Chris but to me his songs sound alike and does nothing for me, I actually did not care for Broken Halos but that’s just me.
I am not close to being a Blake Shelton fan at all but there is a serious problem when a song like I lived it that sounds descent with some substance to it does not make it to the top but this ridiculous song turning me on with no substance at all and a God awful song is moving into the top 10 on the charts. So sad for real music…

Meanwhile millions of great pieces of music and literature go unnoticed.

I’m pretty sure Bazzini’s “Dance of the Goblins” is every bit as deserving as “Claire de Lune”

“Desolation Row” is probably far more abstract and complex than “American Pie.”

Pretty sure most people can’t quote a line from Desolation Row.

So “masterpiece” is such a bad term when it comes to art, especially for artists who may or may not be as proud of this or that creation.

Frankly, I think Hank Thompson’s “Three little swigs from a bottle of gin, a big bad heartache can’t get in, I lifted it up to my chinny chin chin and took three little swigs from a bottle of gin” is one of the greatest lyrics ever written.

Really like Stapleton but the mainstream country artist that has been consistently waving the country flag for more than a decade is Miranda! Her 6 albums have many influences but are ALWAYS country, add in her 3 albums w/ Pistol Annies & it no contest. The fact that only male names are listed above (Stapleton, Simpson & Isbell) as saviors is another example of the sexism in country. Especially since it’s the female artists really releasing the best music in the genre currently.

I completely agree that the way the media has exclusively focused on Stapleton, Simpson, and Isbell as “country saviors” is not only lazy, inaccurate when it comes to the style of their music, and exclusionary to important artists, I have specifically made that case when it comes to Miranda Lambert being left out of that discussion. That’s why I wrote an article titled, “Miranda Lambert Is That 4th Mt. Rushmore Name We’ve Been Looking For”

This is no knock of Stapleton whatsoever…But, he’s the guy all the fans of the mainstream like to trot out to prove that they are ‘into’ traditional country. They have their token and they’ll ignore all the others until they use Stapleton up.

Chris Stapleton is a good artist and deserves accolades but so do lots of great artists who keep country music going. I simply won’t watch the CMA’S or listen to mainstream country radio. I have great local stations like the range and the ranch in DFW that play Texas/ Red Dirt and Americana with lots of classics thrown in. I can go to numerous live music venues and hear original material but in the DFW market we are blessed with a culture that supports independent music as is our Hill Country brothers and sisters with KNBT in New Braunfels and Lucenbach and Greune hall. That’s what will “save country music” not any one artist.

Flash in the pan. I remember when y’all were upset that Stapleton was opening for Hank Jr thinking it should be the other way around but Jr is someone with arguably at least 20 years of solid records under his belt while Stapleton was riding high on ONE. It’s gonna take a little more than that.